Heather Mills has spoken of her joy after winning a place to ski for GB. Heather will race for the British Disabled Ski Team on the Austrian slopes on January 19 in a Giant Slalom race despite two huge accidents in the last three weeks which have left her nursing a fractured shoulder and a broken thumb. "It is very exciting. I'm over the moon," the 44 year old tells HELLO! "There will be 100 of us racing. A top ten finish would be fantastic, but I am hoping to get into the top five and dream of making the podium.
I've always been sporty and wondered what it is like to represent your country and ultimately compete in the Olympics. "On top of the two recent injuries, she has suffered a further three during the 2011 ski season, all of which have led to her being hospitalised.
Just before Christmas, one of those injuries revealed something a lot more sinister, a tumour which led to a cancer scare. "An MRI scan picked up a tumour in the top of my left leg, which is the same one I had amputated below the knee. I had to go back into the MRI machine and they put a dye into it. Doctors said [the tumour] had been there for sometime. It all happened very quickly. Thankfully, it was all fine. Doctors told me the tumour was benign, not cancerous."
It was just a year ago that Heather joined the team, after being spotted as a potential racer. It was not until the age of 21 that Heather first put on skis – making her achievement to race in the Austrian leg of the International Paralympic Committee Alpine Skiing European Cup all that more remarkable.She says of her long list of accidents :"I was hospitalised five times in 2011 because of my skiing. Fracturing my left shoulder twice, snapping my anterior cruciate ligament once and smashing my scapula into five pieces. "I don't mean to be accident prone, but my excuse is if you really want to get somewhere you have to go full gas. Luckily I'm a quick healer. "Heather's next goal is to win a place in the GB team for the Winter Paralympics in 2014.Read the full article in HELLO! Issue 1209, out now.